Phytophthora on tomatoes. Effective methods of dealing with an insidious disease

Phytophthora on tomatoes is a fungus that is sufficiently resistant to external factors, so it can remain on the seeds themselves, on plants, and also in the ground for a long time. If you processed a plant with late blight with any tools, then signs of a fungus may also remain in your inventory. The ideal breeding ground for the phytophthora fungus is moisture, therefore, with the onset of certain weather conditions, its amount can only increase, and the destructive effect intensifies.

Phytophthora on tomatoes: signs of the disease

Most often it all starts with blackening, the cause of which may be top rot, dry soil under the tomatoes, lack of fertilizers, which provokes blackening. Of course, this immediately makes the gardener think about what exactly affects the tomato, and how to deal with it. But there is only one factor in everything - the active reproduction of the phytophthora fungus.

Even if the blackening species is only on fruits, it should be borne in mind that late blight affects absolutely the entire plant as a whole. Having examined the plant in more detail, you can see the living lifeless leaves, the presence of spots with a white bloom on them. Massive drying of leaves with proper care and watering can cause many plant diseases, but late blight is still the most common phenomenon.

It is worth remembering that during dry and hot seasons, tomatoes have practically no chance of getting sick with late blight, since the sun's rays prevent the fungus from multiplying and spreading throughout the plant. If there are prolonged rains, excess moisture, then this becomes an excellent environment for the reproduction of phytophthora and mass destruction of plants.

Among the signs, we will designate the following, so that in the future, each gardener can easily identify phytophthora on the site (for example, tomatoes):

The leaves are gradually covered with brown spots, which will affect the leaf exactly until it dries completely;

The stems of plants also change color, darken, until they completely turn black and cease to be viable;

Black areas appear on the fruits of tomatoes: they harden, very quickly infect the fruit.

How to deal with late blight?

Of course, late blight is a very dangerous disease for plants. It must be fought with it as soon as the first signs were noted. Preventing the disease completely is not easy and, most likely, almost impossible, since its threat is always present. But there are several ways to overcome late blight on tomatoes.

First, you should follow the watering rules. The water should always be evenly distributed among the plants. It is imperative for the gardener to create an irrigation system so that water does not stagnate in the root system, but is drained from there periodically.

If mold, leaf drying, fungal deposits have been noticed, then a fungicide must be used. But there is an opinion that if late blight was found on a plant, then it is best to get rid of it, since it will die, and the fungus will be transferred to neighboring crops, which also threatens their existence. Consider the need to process the tools and materials with which you treat the area every day, since late blight fungi are very resistant to external conditions, they can persist on shovels and hoes, rakes, and gloves.